Donald Dufresne

Assistant Coach

Donald Dufresne, 46, is in his second season as an Assistant Coach with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Dufresne began his coaching career with the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during the 2000-2001 season as an assistant coach before becoming an assistant coach with the Quebec Citadelles of the AHL in 2001-2002. In 80 games with Quebec, he totaled a record of 35-27-15-3, which was good for first in the Canadian Division.

He returned to the Oceanic in 2002-2003 as an assistant coach, then in 2004-2005 helped lead them to a league championship as head coach. After a few years away from the team, Dufresne returned to the Oceanic as assistant coach in 2008-2009 and also held the duties of assistant general manager for four seasons. His total record as a head coach in the QMJHL over 140 games was 79-45-10-6 and total record as an assistant coach in the QMJHL was 151-283-5-6-3 over 348 games.

Dufresne played 268 games over nine seasons in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers. He totalled 42 points (six goals, 36 assists) over his career while winning the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993. The Quebec City native was originally drafted by Montreal in the sixth round, 117th overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. He played various seasons in the American Hockey League during his professional career with the Sherbrooke Canadiens, Fredericton Canadiens and the Worcester IceCats while playing one season with the Quebec Rafales of the International Hockey League.

In 186 regular season games over six seasons in the AHL, he notched 61 points (13 goals, 48 assists). Dufresne played for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs and the Longueuil Chevaliers over four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during his junior career.